1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image forming apparatus that is capable of executing authentication processing, a method of controlling the same, and a storage medium.
2. Description of the Related Art
A digital multifunction peripheral is conventionally known which executes jobs, such as print jobs, scan jobs, document storage jobs, and facsimile transmission jobs, according to commands received from external apparatuses via a network. Further, a technique is also conventionally known in which an operation mode of the digital multifunction peripheral is set or changed according to a command received from an external apparatus via the network.
The above-mentioned commands sometimes include secret information, such as a password associated with a user or a section, and a password associated with a job. When the digital multifunction peripheral has received a command including a password, it performs authentication based on the received password. If authentication is successful, the digital multifunction peripheral permits execution of processing in accordance with the received command, whereas if authentication fails, the digital multifunction peripheral interprets the command as an error without executing the processing.
By the way, conventionally, there has been proposed a method of performing authentication in the following manner: In a system in which a server authenticates clients, first, an authentication method permitted to be used by a client is set in advance, and the client determines whether or not an authentication method which the client intends to use when exchanging authentication information with the server via a network is the permitted authentication method. If the authentication method which the client intends to use is not the permitted authentication method, the client does not execute exchanging of the authentication information with the server, and terminates the authentication attempt as an error.
For example, in Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2004-213534, when transmitting a mail using SMTP, the following processing is performed: If an SMTP authentication method intended to be used between a client and a mail server to which the mail is to be transmitted is permitted, mail transmission is executed, whereas if not, mail transmission is handled as an error without performing SMTP authentication.
However, according to the conventional techniques, the image forming apparatus cannot permit or reject processing in accordance with a command received from an external apparatus and including authentication information, by considering whether or not the command has been transmitted and received in a proper form.